The FINANCIAL -- The European Commission has approved a €2million humanitarian aid package to support the people most affected by the unresolved conflict between Abkhazia and Georgia.

The recipients will include returnees and vulnerable groups in Abkhazia. Assistance will focus on small income-generation projects and the basic rehabilitation of destroyed houses. Funds are being allocated via the European Commission Humanitarian Aid department under the responsibility of Commissioner Louis Michel.

According to EU, Abkhazia, in Western Georgia, continues to be characterised by forgotten humanitarian needs. As a result of the conflict, Abkhazia is a devastated region. Its population has shrunk from an estimated 500,000 people before the war to around 150,000 people currently, many of whom are considered destitute. Very few ethnic Georgians displaced by the war have returned to their homes in Abkhazia.

This new funding will ensure food security for the most vulnerable families through small income-generation projects for those who are able to work and who will thus become self-sufficient. This decision will also fund the basic rehabilitation of destroyed houses for people who have returned to the Gali district of Abkhazia. European non-governmental organisations will implement these tasks.

The conflict which erupted in 1992 in the breakaway Republic, led to the displacement of over 250,000 people. An UN-brokered agreement was signed by the Georgian and Abkhaz parties in 1994 putting an end to the fighting, but the situation still remains tense.

ECHO has been present in Georgia since 1993 to meet the needs of the most vulnerable communities. This new allocation brings the total of the Commission's humanitarian aid funding up to €104 million for Georgia.